Maxlight under cabinet lights

sarendsFebruary 18, 2013

Purchased the 2700 Maxlites from environmental lighting including Lutron dimmers and we are totally pleased with environmental lighting and the Maxlite product.

We went with the 18 led per foot version with 2700 color temperature. The brightness is perfect as well as the soft color. The dimmers work extremely well and the units are so small they tucked up under the cabinets out of site and neatly.

sarends, congratulations! Glad you are pleased with your choice. do you have pics to share?
We are in the process of decision/ordering the UCL - either eW profile from Philips or maxlite. I was wondering how you went about spacing the 12" lightbars under your cabinets? We have a 47" and a 32" cabinets and were thinking of gettin 3 + 2 of these ~12" bars spaced 3-4 inches from edges and between lightbars (connected with jumper cables). We are concerned with possible uneven pattern of illumination or unusual shadows. Our countertops are whitish and walls/backsplash are white, so will reflect a lot of light.
Davidtay and others suggested to look in showrooms but I can't find a decent display of maxlite around where I live. Please share your experience and pics.
Dax

Our cabinets are 36" - we installed two 12" 18 LED Maxlight strips under each one. They are the warm color - 2700. THe 18 LEDs per foot is plenty bright (they also have 12 per foot and 36 per foot). I can't imagine how bright the 32/ft models would have been. I am happy we did not go with the color temperature 5000s.

We are VERY happy with the results. The pictures are showed with the lowest intensity (fully dimmed) from the Lutron dimmer (model supplied by Environmental Lights specifically tested not to flicker - they don't). I sent EL photos and dimensions and they configured the recommended number of lights and connectors - worked out perfectly.

We had our electrician install them hard wired - he was very pleased with the ease of install. They are so light weight that we bought more double stick tape and pressed them in that way.

Sarends, thank you for sharing the photos. your kitchen looks great and very functional. UCL installation is perfect and I like that the junction box is buried in what looks like the cabinet filler piece. In our case junction box will be outside. I also think we should be ok getting shorter than entire cabinet run lightbars, and then spacing them strategically with jumper cables.

OT - in one of the photos I noticed you have induction (?) cooktop and no vent hood. Will you be installing one later or you feel there's no need for vent with induction?

. . . . for (what seems to be mainly a discussion on backsplash) for some before and in process photos - you can see the old hood that was there. My DW hated the hood because it was very imposing in its position in the center of the (once was) closed in kitchen.

The cooktop is not induction ( that is coming in Reno Phase II as well as faucets and Miele Dishwasher - Phase III will replace the countertops plus whatelse we come up with between now and then - steam oven??).

However, the code in our jurisdiction does not require venting over the cooktop unless it is an open flame cooktop. We (I hope we are right) don't think we are really going to require the venting over the cooktop - we have lived here three years with the very capable Broan Hood, and I think we turned it on twice - famous last words, right!

Sarends - Just looking to purchase UCL in next week or so. Do you think the 12 light per 12" would be okay? I noticed you said they were fully dimmed in your pic with the 18"s. I don't like things to be super bright so I'm wondering if I'm better with the lower light output?

Your kitchen looks amazing!! I am sure it has totally transformed your kitchen. I know when I put in my LED strip lighting I found that I enjoyed cooking more because it wasn't do dim and dingy and I could actually see what I was making! Glad it worked out for you!